Matchday Memories: On This Day 1969 – Cantwell’s City Ruin Rams Run In Div. 1
On this day (8th October) in 1969, in the Sky Blues’ third season in the top flight, Noel Cantwell‘s team travelled to the Baseball Ground in a Division One fixture with Derby County and came away with a win in front of a shade under 40k fans (39,880). The game marked the Sky Blue debut (from the subs bench) of our Geordie striker, and now CCFPA member, Brian Joicey. The two sides had fought out a 1-1 draw at Highfield Road in City’s third match of the season with the Ram’s fourth minute goal from top centre-half Roy McFarland being countered by a similar header a minute later from our Scottish centre-forward (and later CCFPA member) Neil Martin.
The Sky Blues ended County’s unbeaten run of 25 home games in spectacular fashion and produced one of their best away performances for a long time. In this game Neil Martin gave McFarland a particularly torrid time. The lanky centre forward bagged the first goal of the game on 17 minutes from a cross by Irish CCFPA member Dave Clements. Roy McFarland was so unnerved he then sliced City’s second into his own net just after the hour!
